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List of Former WWE programs
The following is a list of former World Wrestling Federation/Entertainment programming. 1950s ''Heavyweight Wrestling'' (1956–1971) One of the very first programs produced by what was then NWA Capitol Wrestling (the WWWF's immediate predecessor) was Heavyweight Wrestling, which debuted locally on Washington D.C. station WTTG on January 5, 1956 as Wrestling at Capitol Arena and later entered syndication when it began airing on New York City's WABD-TV (now WNYW) on June 21 that year.Washington, D.C. Wrestling Television History at Legacy of Wrestling The show featured low card to high card status wrestlers. The ring announcers would announce the matches for next week. Most of the events were held in Washington's Capitol Arena. Ray Morgan did the commentary for the show. The ring announcers were Friendly Bob Freed and Smiling Sam Morgan. Usually the main events featured WWWF Champion Bruno Sammartino retaining his title. The show ended on September 25, 1971 and was replaced the following week by WWWF All-Star Wrestling. 1970s ''All-Star Wrestling'' (1971–1986) WWF All-Star Wrestling was a WWF television show which consisted of top-tier or mid-card talent defeating enhancement talent (jobbers) and at times a "feature" match between main WWF talent. The show was taped at the Hamburg Fieldhouse in Hamburg, Pennsylvania. All-Star Wrestling ran from October 2, 1971 through August 31, 1986, when it was replaced by the new program Wrestling Challenge. Challenge was the "B" show of the WWF's syndicated programming, behind Superstars. Typically, the show featured matches narrated by Vince McMahon with occasional assistance from Lord Alfred Hayes and Pat Patterson; it was later hosted by Gorilla Monsoon and Jesse Ventura. From 1984 to 1986, the theme of All-Star Wrestling was an instrumental portion of David Bowie's "Modern Love". ''Championship Wrestling'' (1972–1986) WWF Championship Wrestling was a TV show of the World Wrestling Federation. It featured all the stars of the WWF, interviews and championship matches. The show lasted from May 20, 1972 until 1986. 1980s ''All American Wrestling'' (1983–1994) WWF All American Wrestling was a cable television program that was a predecessor to Tuesday Night Titans and Saturday Night's Main Event, originally filling the 11:00 a.m. Eastern Time slot on Sundays vacated by the cancellation of Southwest Championship Wrestling. The show ran from September 4, 1983 to October 16, 1994 on the USA Network. After it was canceled in 1994, it was replaced by Action Zone. During the first three weeks of the show, All American Wrestling profiled the WWF's top three superstars of that time: WWF World Heavyweight Champion Bob Backlund, Jimmy Snuka and André the Giant. By late September, the show featured mainly high-card wrestlers from various promotions across the United States, before featuring WWF talent exclusively. Although the USA Cable Network had carried WWF events from New York's Madison Square Garden and the Capital Centre in Landover, Maryland, this was the first weekly national telecast of the original flagship shows for the World Wrestling Federation. By the early 90s, the show mostly reshowed matches and segments from other WWF programs and usually featured one exclusive match. Vince McMahon was the original host of the program. Afterward, Lord Alfred Hayes became host. Subsequently, Gene Okerlund took over hosting duties and stayed there for most of its run. In 1993, Johnny Polo was added as co-host to replace Bobby Heenan. ''Tuesday Night Titans'' (1984–1986) Tuesday Night Titans (abbreviated TNT) aired on the USA Network from 1984 to 1986 and was promoted as a variety show. ''Wrestling Spotlight'' (1984–1995) WWF Wrestling Spotlight was syndicated from 1986 to 1995. Originally known as WWF Superstars of Wrestling until late 1986, the show was hosted by various personalities generally from a studio or control room and consisted primarily of matches from other WWF programming. ''Prime Time Wrestling'' (1985–1993) WWF Prime Time Wrestling aired on the USA Network from 1985 to 1993. A precursor to Monday Night Raw, Prime Time Wrestling was a two-hour long, weekly program that featured stars of the World Wrestling Federation. The program featured wrestling matches (most of which were compiled from the WWF's syndicated programs of the era, combined with "house show" matches from venues such as Madison Square Garden), interviews, promos featuring WWF wrestlers, updates of current feuds and announcements of upcoming local and pay-per-view events. ''Saturday Night's Main Event'' (1985–1992 / 2006–2008) Saturday Night's Main Event is a professional wrestling television program that aired occasionally from 1985 to 1992, under the World Wrestling Federation banner on NBC in place of Saturday Night Live. It returned to the air on March 18, 2006, in an 8 EST time slot. It was also on ESPN Radio with a start time of 7:35 EST. At the time of the original airing it was a rare example of professional wrestling being broadcast on an over-the-air commercial television network after the 1950s. It coincided with and contributed to the apogee of the "second golden age" of professional wrestling in the United States. In a time when weekly programming consisted primarily of established stars dominating enhancement talent, Saturday Night's Main Event was made up entirely of star vs. star bouts. After leaving NBC in 1991, it aired twice on FOX in 1992 before disappearing for over a decade. When WWE's flagship show, Monday Night Raw returned to the USA Network in 2005, Saturday Night's Main Event was revived in 2006 as a "special series" to air on occasion on NBC as part of a deal between WWE and NBC Universal. The Raw, SmackDown!, and ECW brand rosters are now featured on the show. ''Superstars of Wrestling'' (1986–2001) WWF Superstars of Wrestling is a professional wrestling program that debuted on September 6, 1986 and was aired until 2001. Superstars, as it would later be known, was the flagship of the WWF's syndicated programming from its inception until being eclipsed by Monday Night Raw in 1993. ''Wrestling Challenge'' (1986–1996) WWF Wrestling Challenge aired from 1986 to 1996 and was syndicated weekly. The show premiered as WWF Wrestling Challenge and became simply known as WWF Challenge in 1995. The show featured matches, pre-match interviews, and occasionally, summarized weekly events in WWF programming. As with other syndicated WWF programming, the show promoted WWF event dates and house shows in local media markets. ''The Main Event'' (1988–1991) WWF The Main Event is a spin-off of the show WWF Saturday Night's Main Event and occasionally aired on NBC on Friday nights. Only the first three The Main Event episodes were shown live on NBC. The final two were taped and then shown on NBC at a later date. 1990s ''Mania'' (1993–1996) WWF Mania aired on Saturday morning television program that aired on the USA Network from January 9, 1993 through September 14, 1996. It recapped events that happened during the week in the WWF at the time, and in its earlier years, it usually featured exclusive matches. ''Action Zone'' (1994–1996) WWF Action Zone was a program that featured the World Wrestling Federation stars in action. The main event of the debut show saw Bret Hart defeat Owen Hart to retain the WWF Championship. The second week's main event had Shawn Michaels and Diesel defend the WWF Tag Team Championship against Razor Ramon and the 1-2-3 Kid. Action Zone lasted from October 23, 1994 until September 15, 1996. Vince McMahon and Todd Pettengill called the first three episodes; after that, Jim Ross replaced McMahon, with Gorilla Monsoon filling in for Ross on occasion. By the end of 1995, Action Zone became a highlights show that aired Sunday mornings for both Monday Night Raw and Superstars. It also featured exclusive matches. It was hosted by Todd Pettengill and Dok Hendrix. In 1996, Action Zone was canceled and replaced by WWF Superstars, which had just been removed from syndication. ''Sunday Night Slam'' (1994–1995) WWF Sunday Night Slam was a program that aired three times on the USA Network between November 20, 1994 and March 26, 1995. The program was created to replace the specials run on the USA Network prior to major pay-per-views. The shows were called "SummerSlam Spectacular", "March To WrestleMania", "Survivor Series Showdown", and "Countdown to the Crowning". The WWF revived the show in 1995 as a 30-minute preview of the night's pay-per-view action. The final Sunday Night Slam aired just prior to WWF In Your House V on December 17, 1995. After 1995, this show aired on the Prevue Channel. In 1996, it became WWE Free for All and the channel on which it aired would be renamed TV Guide Channel (now TV Guide Network) almost immediately after that. This last version was terminated in 1998 and replaced by Sunday Night Heat. ''LiveWire'' (1996–2001) WWF LiveWire was a WWF television program that aired Saturday mornings on the USA Network from 1996 to 2000 and on TNN from 2000 to 2001. It was a revamp of the WWF's previous Saturday morning show, WWF Mania, and was hosted by Todd Pettengill, who had previously been the host of Mania. Sunny was Pettengill's co-host for its first few months. ''Friday Night's Main Event'' (1997) WWF Friday Night's Main Event aired on the USA Network when Monday Night Raw was preempted on the weeks of August 29 and September 5 in 1997, due to USA's coverage of the US Open. This program did not do very well as the show averaged a 1.5 rating. ''Shotgun Saturday Night'' (1997–1999) WWF Shotgun Saturday Night was a professional wrestling television program produced by the World Wrestling Federation. It aired between 1997 and 1999 and was a syndicated show that featured matches with lower card wrestlers. Shotgun Saturday Night was replaced by WWF Jakked in 1999. As a notation, there were various versions of this show that floated around in different markets such as WWF Shotgun and WWF Shotgun Challenge, which were basically the same content just rearranged with different commentary(Shotgun Challenge being specific to the NY Market). There were also three other shows with basically the same content, although camera angles, commentary, and local promos were different. Those being Canadian Superstars(Hosted By Tom Prichard & Ray Rougeau), WWF New York(Hosted by Vince Russo & Others), and WWF 11:Alive. ''Sunday Night Heat'' (1998–2008) WWE Heat (formerly known as WWE Sunday Night Heat) was a professional wrestling show for World Wrestling Entertainment. It was aired on USA Network, MTV and Spike TV in the United States, Channel 4 and Sky One in the United Kingdom and CTV Sportsnet in Canada. It was most recently streamed on WWE.com on Friday afternoons for North American viewers. However, the show was still televised internationally and showed in the United Kingdom on Sky Sports 3, Australia on FOX8, India on Ten Sports, Germany on Premiere Sport Portal, France on Action, Spain on Sportmania and C+ Deportes -both channels from Digital +, the Middle East on ShowSports4, the Philippines on Jack TV, and Japan on J SPORTS. The final episode was uploaded to WWE.com on May 30 2008.Josh Mathews blog confirming final episode of Heat The show was replaced internationally with WWE Vintage Collection, a program featuring classic WWE matches.WWE.com UK television schedule ''Super Astros'' (1998–1999) WWF Super Astros was a program that showed mostly wrestlers of foreign descent wrestle in the WWF that aired from 1998 to 1999 and was mainly used as a vehicle to promote the WWF in Latin American countries. It was hosted by Carlos Cabrera and Hugo Savinovich, who were the Spanish announce team. Interviews were handled by Maria Felipe. The program had a stable of Mexican wrestlers such as El Hijo del Santo and Negro Casas that competed in Asistencia Asesoría y Administración, Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre, or other promotions around the world. Storylines were created within the program only with the Mexican stars. They competed against the stable in cruiserweight style matches and in AAA and CMLL style matches (mostly tag team and six-man tag). The program lasted half of a year with its final show airing on June 6, 1999. ''Jakked'' and Metal (1999–2002) Jakked and Metal both aired syndicated weekly from 1999 to 2002 and replaced the long running WWF Shotgun Saturday Night program. They were replaced by WWE Bottom Line and WWE After Burn in syndication, with the live matches moving to WWE Velocity. 2000s ''Excess'' (2001–2002) WWF Excess was a wrestling talk (originally call-in) show that featured WWF guest superstars and Divas. It ran from August 25, 2001 through May 18, 2002. It was originally hosted by Jonathan Coachman and Trish Stratus. Stratus, however, was replaced in late 2001 by Terri Runnels. The program showed classic matches from the WWF's archives, many of which were often taken from viewer suggestions. Starting on the April 6th 2002 episode, the first hour of the show stayed under the Excess name, and was hosted by Michael Cole and Marc Lloyd, who presnted an hour of Smackdown highlights and news. The second hour was renamed Late Night Excess and was presented by The Coach and Raven. That show featured Raw highlights, though it lasted only over a month as it was replaced by WWE Velocity and WWE Confidential later in 2002. ''Confidential'' (2002–2004) WWE Confidential is a World Wrestling Entertainment television show that aired on Spike TV late Saturday nights, following Velocity, from 2002 to 2004. It was hosted by Gene Okerlund. ''Velocity'' (2002–2006) WWE Velocity also replaced WWE Jakked and WWE Metal in 2002. Once a weekly Saturday night show on Spike TV, Velocity became a webcast in 2005. The newest episode would be uploaded to WWE.com on Saturdays and be available for the next week. Older webcast episodes were also archived. It was the counterpart show to SmackDown and was recorded before the television taping of SmackDown! ''ECW on Sci Fi/Syfy'' (2006-2010) ECW on Sci Fi/Syfy is a professional wrestling television program for World Wrestling Entertainment, based on the independent Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) promotion that lasted from 1992 to 2001. The show's name also referred to the ECW brand, in which WWE employees were assigned to work and perform, complementary to WWE's other brands, Raw and SmackDown. It debuted on June 13, 2006 on Sci Fi in the United States and ran for close to four years until it aired its final episode on February 16, 2010 on the rebranded Syfy. ''MSG Classics'' (2006-2009) WWE Madison Square Garden Classics is a professional wrestling television program for World Wrestling Entertainment that aired on the MSG Network featuring most WWE matches from house shows, pay-per-views, and WWE Raw broadcasts that took place at Madison Square Garden. It debuted on July 12, 2006 and ran for three seasons until the last new episode aired on September 17, 2008. The MSG Network showed reruns of 8 episodes from season three in 2009. 2010s ''WWE Saturday Morning Slam'' (2012-2013) WWE Saturday Morning Slam was a professional wrestling television program that aired as part of the Vortexx Saturday morning block on The CW. See also *World Wrestling Entertainment programs References Category:Television programs